The European Council and EU Official

At a glance
European Council in Action
December 2015
The European Council and EU Official Development Assistance
Evolution of European Union/Member States' Official Development Assistance
The collective pledge made by the European Union and its Member States in 2005 to provide Official Development
Assistance (ODA) equivalent to 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) by 2015 has not been upheld. Although the
European Council has reiterated this commitment on an annual basis since 2010, collective European Union ODA
(European Union institutions and Member States) only reached an ODA/GNI ratio of 0.42 per cent by the end of 2014.
Although it followed an upward trend from 2002 until 2010, collective EU ODA declined between 2010 and 2013 due
to a decrease in the amount of contributions from the Member States following the global financial crisis. Collective
EU ODA started to increase again – by 2.1 billion euro – in 2014, but this was not reflected in the total ODA/GNI ratio
1
due to a new methodology introduced for calculating GNI. Fifteen EU Member States increased their contributions to
2
ODA in 2014, amounting to a total of 3.4 billion euro. At the same time, thirteen Member States made a 1.3 billion
euro reduction in their ODA contributions. Only four European Union Member States exceeded the 0.7 per cent
ODA/GNI target in 2014: Sweden (1.10 per cent), Luxembourg (1.07 per cent), Denmark (0.85 per cent), and the
United Kingdom (0.71 per cent).
Official development assistance as share of gross national income, by country, 2005 and 2014 (per cent of GNI) Source: OECD, European Commission services, Eurostat.
Strong political declarations versus weak scrutiny of progress
In 2005, the European Council urged Member States to direct half of the agreed ODA increase to the African
continent; however, between 2004 and 2013 less than 15 per cent of the growth in ODA was allocated to Africa. Least
Developed Countries (LDC) were considered a priority. In 2008, Member States committed to collectively provide
1
2
BE, HR, CY, DK, EE, FI, DE, EL, HU, LV, MT, NL, RO, SE, UK.
AT, BG, CZ, FR, IE, IT, LT, LU, PL, PT, SK, SL, ES.
EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service
Author: Izabela Bacian
European Council Oversight Unit
European Parliament
PE 573.279
between 0.15 per cent and 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to LDCs by 2010 but this resulted, between 2004 and 2013, in
only 0.12 per cent of GNI provided to LDCs.
Following the mid-term revision of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2010, the European Commission
established a 12-point action plan to accelerate progress towards attaining the MDGs by 2015. The action plan
proposed methods to ensure an increase in the amount of aid provided by Member States, and underlined the need
to find innovative sources of financing and increase the overall efficacy of the aid provided. The first point of the
action plan specifically addressed the 0.7 percent ODA/GNI target. Its key recommendations included the following:
a) the introduction of annual national ODA Action Plans;
b) the creation of an ODA Peer Review mechanism to report results to the European Council annually; and
c)
enshrining the 0.7 per cent target in national legislation.
However, following the June 2010 Foreign Affairs Council conclusions, these recommendations were abandoned as
the Council underlined that it fell within the competence of each individual Member State to decide upon the actions
needed to reach the target. Some delegations wanted greater scrutiny of progress in the form of a report to the
European Council; while others considered that it would be up to the European Council to request such a report.
Eventually it was decided that the Council would examine a report within the framework of the Monterrey process
and assess progress annually.
The European Parliament resolution of 16 June 2013 set out what should be included in the new Post-2015
Development Agenda. The European Parliament recalled the commitment to allocate 0.7 per cent of gross national
income to ODA by 2015, and called on all Member States to introduce binding legislation and adopt multiannual
budget timetables in order to reach the target. At present, Belgium and the United Kingdom are the only Member
States who have enshrined the 0.7 per cent target in national law. Nineteen Member States have provided
information to the Commission regarding their financial-year-2015 allocations; however, limited information was
provided on any realistic or verifiable actions. Most recently, at the 70th Session of the United Nations General
Assembly on 25 September 2015, the European Union reaffirmed its collective commitment to achieve the 0.7 per
cent of ODA/GNI target within the time frame of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
Modernisation of ODA methodology
The current definition of ODA has been the subject of increasing criticism given different views of what can be
measured as ODA and what cannot. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines
ODA as 'flows to countries and territories on the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) List of ODA Recipients and
to multilateral institutions' from 'official agencies ... with the promotion of the economic development and welfare of
developing countries as its main objective'.
It is important to note that official ODA figures include significant elements of aid which do not result in resources
flowing to developing countries; this is referred to as inflated aid, with genuine aid even lower than the reported ODA
levels. Inflated aid may refer to or include refugee costs, imputed student costs, tied aid, interest on loans, and debt
relief. In 2013, approximately 5.2 billion euro of the aid reported by EU Member States was inflated; three countries
accounted for two thirds (65 per cent) of the European Union’s total inflated aid: France (1.8 billion euro), Germany
(1.2 billion euro) and Sweden (514 million euro). Moreover, several Member States (Belgium, France and Portugal) are
actively advocating the reporting of additional military, peace keeping and security expenses as ODA.
Nevertheless, discussions were held in the OECD DAC over the modernisation of ODA and at their High-Level Meeting
in December 2014, DAC members agreed to consider grants and the grant portion (of at least 45 per cent) of
concessional loans as ODA, and exclude loans as such. Work is ongoing towards the development of a new
measurement framework for total official support for sustainable development (TOSSD) which would not replace ODA
but would complement it by measuring broader international financing for sustainable development.
To contact the European Council Oversight Unit, please e-mail: EPRS-EuropeanCouncilOversight@ep.europa.eu
Manuscript completed on 10 December 2015. Brussels © European Union, 2015.
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